Case Study No. 10

24 October 2016

Background

Prime Pork is dedicated to the marketing of regional, high-quality, Alentejo products, produced from black pigs. Prime Pork’s aim is to explore the international market, spreading what is considered to be the best in Portuguese regional products; basically, promoting Portuguese traditions and flavours. The main market Prime Pork wishes to penetrate is China, but, at an early stage, the company wanted a translation into English, as it is a more comprehensive language and so made the most sense in a first phase of internationalisation.

Challenge

This young, dynamic company contacted SMARTIDIOM to request the translation of the description of their products into English. The text Prime Pork submitted included specific terminology on the Alentejo black pig, so it required a specialised translation, one that was able to ensure a final job as requested, with correct terminology without losing its ability to sell the product, in an accessible language. The history and the unique features of black pigs were present in the text, which later included a list of the various parts and meat types of black pig.

Solution

The strategy used was to contact professional translators specialised in animal and veterinary anatomy, but at the same time, with sufficient knowledge of the national reality. On the one hand, the correct terminology had to be ensured in order to do justice to the quality of black pork and, on the other, to show knowledge of the Alentejo geography and culture, to also do justice to this Portuguese region. The first phase consisted of the careful evaluation of the external resources to be used, which was followed by a careful evaluation, based on the professional profile of the selected collaborators, of the translation experience in their areas of expertise and the feedback gathered from previous work. When the appropriate resources were selected, the project transitioned into the implementation phase of the translation and review, with a final quality check conducted by the dedicated project manager, whose main concern was to make sure that all the assumptions of the project had been met. The terminology database management tools and the glossaries that were used reduced the reviewing time, maintained consistence regarding the terminology that was used and ensured significant cost savings for the client.

Results

By contacting the appropriate resources, it was possible to work according to the client’s expectations, based on terminology research appropriate to the context and, at the same time, ensure that the final text did not lose its marketing angle. The language style that was used remained marketing-friendly in its English version and this was only possible thanks to the use of experienced professionals with marketing skills and specific knowledge in the industry concerned. The Portuguese cultural and geographical specificities were taken into account, which is essential when advertising products that are traditional.

About SMARTIDIOM

Founded in 2012, SMARTIDIOM offers innovative multilingual services, helping global organisations and brands to grow and achieve international success. Our solutions include technical translation, technical writing, website and software localisation, software and hardware testing, copywriting, transcreation (creative translation for marketing and advertising), subtitling, interpreting, narration and audio/video transcription. Actively present in 25 countries, SMARTIDIOM partners with clients from a wide variety of industries, including Marketing and Advertising, IT and Software, Telecommunications, Construction, Energy and the Environment.